President of S.F. supes accused of harassing calls, threats

Director says actions violated city law against interference

Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, January 31, 2008

Photo: Michael Macor

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Supervisor Aaron Peskin takes over the seat of President of the Board of supervisors. San Francisco swears in three new first time Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi, Michela Alioto-Pier and Sean Elsbernd. Also 4 others were re-elected in their districts, Aaron Peskin, Jake McGoldrick, Tom Amiano and Gerardo Sandoval.
1/8/05 San Francisco, Ca Michael Macor / San Francisco Chronicle less

Supervisor Aaron Peskin takes over the seat of President of the Board of supervisors. San Francisco swears in three new first time Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi, Michela Alioto-Pier and Sean Elsbernd. Also 4 ... more

San Francisco Board of Supervisors PresidentAaron Peskin made a series of harassing telephone calls to officials at the Port of San Francisco and threatened to eliminate their jobs and cut funding to the agency because staff members disagreed with him over building-height limits on the city's waterfront, the port director said in a letter obtained by The Chronicle.

In a letter sent to the city Department of Human Resources and Mayor Gavin Newsom's office, Port Executive Director Monique Moyer said that in August, Peskin threatened the jobs of port staff members in four telephone conversations, which she described as "outlandish harassment."

Moyer said Peskin's actions - which included a late-evening phone call to her house in which the supervisor said he would be "going after" her - violate a city law that prohibits members of the board from interfering in the business of city departments and qualify as official misconduct.

City Hall sources said Wednesday that the city attorney's office and the Department of Human Resources are investigating the allegations.

Peskin denied that he violated city law.

"Supervisor Peskin's behavior is intimidating and unnecessary," Moyer wrote in the three-page letter dated Aug. 23. "The threats appear to be extensive and real, and I fully expect to have difficulty with any Port legislation pending before the Board of Supervisors."

The revelation is just the latest charge of bullish conduct to be leveled at Peskin, the highest-ranking member of the city's legislative branch.

On Tuesday, Wade Crowfoot, Newsom's director of climate protection initiatives, went public with allegations that on two occasions Peskin threatened to eliminate his job out of spite. In October, Peskin also introduced a measure that would have eviscerated the city Department of the Environment after the head of that agency broke with the supervisor and other city leaders on a major energy policy. The city attorney ultimately deemed that legislation illegal.

That same month, Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier accused Peskin of switching his vote and effectively killing a piece of legislation she sponsored because she went public with her opposition to a Muni overhaul measure spearheaded by Peskin. When she later confronted Peskin about his vote switch, he reportedly told her, "Payback is a bitch."

Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard said the mayor learned about Moyer's allegations in November and referred the matter to the city attorney and district attorney for investigation. Ballard could not explain the nearly three-month delay between the time the letter was sent to Newsom's office and the time the mayor first heard about the charges.

Representatives for City Attorney Dennis Herrera and District Attorney Kamala Harris said they could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation. The director of the city Department of Human Resources did not return a call seeking comment.

Peskin denied that he violated the portion of the City Charter that bans supervisors' interference in city department dealings.

"I take my job seriously," he said when asked about the allegations. "I aggressively pursue policies and outcomes that I think are in the best interest of the city. I know the boundaries of appropriate behavior. Things get heated from time to time in the legislative arena."

A day earlier, he told The Chronicle that "I do not threaten peoples' jobs" when asked whether he had threatened to do away with the mayor's director of climate protection initiatives.

The dispute between Peskin, who represents North Beach, and port officials involved parcels of land along the Embarcadero on the city's northeastern waterfront. A bill sponsored by state Sen. Carole Migden at the request of Newsom's office would have allowed the financially struggling port to build lucrative developments on those lots.

But Peskin and many of his Telegraph Hill constituents, whose homes look down on the Embarcadero, wanted to make sure the Migden legislation would ensure that any buildings erected on the port property would meet local height restrictions and would be no taller than 40 feet. But port officials objected to that.

The bill ultimately became law, but the lots in dispute were cut out of the final version, meaning the fight over building requirements for the parcels is bound to resurface.

Through a spokeswoman, Moyer declined to comment and called the issue a personnel matter.

But in her August letter, which was obtained by The Chronicle on Wednesday, Moyer said Peskin had engaged in "unconscionable behavior" when he called her staff members at work and her at home one night as she was putting her daughter to bed.

Moyer said Peskin seemed to have been drinking when he called her at 8:45 p.m. "because his words were not clear." Peskin yelled at her and admitted he had threatened to eliminate the job of the port's special projects manager, who had been working on the Migden legislation, she said. Peskin then hung up on her, she said.

When she called him back, "he answered and began to yell at me again stating that he was 'done with me' and he would be 'going after' me," Moyer wrote.

"The entire exchange left me shaken," she wrote. "I felt that someone had come into my home and violently threatened me."

That phone call followed three others days earlier, according to the letter.

Peskin also called Tina Olson, the port's chief financial officer, and said "unequivocally" that he intended to cut a port staff member's job and that he would "screw" with the agency's budget, Moyer wrote.

"That conversation left Ms. Olson shaken and convinced that Supervisor Peskin intended to act in retaliation against the Port ... for not agreeing to the amendments in the legislation," Moyer wrote.

During the other conversations, Peskin allegedly threatened to "attack" the funding of the department and "ruin" Port Commissioner Stephanie Shakofsky because she also disagreed with him.

"In my estimation, the behaviors are exacerbated by Supervisor Peskin's belief that the Port should fall in line with his wishes and his demands and any opposition thereto is worthy of his anger and punishment," Moyer wrote.

Ballard said he is "confident (the city attorney and district attorney) will do the right thing with the information that has been provided."

"These are serious allegations coming from a person who is known for her honesty and integrity," Ballard said of Moyer, who was appointed to run the port in 2004 and who has a reputation for being one of the country's top public finance experts.

Alioto-Pier questioned whether the allegations would be taken seriously, however.

"The city attorney and the district attorney should be taking it a little more seriously, and I'm not sure I feel that that's being done," she said. "These are very serious allegations. All of us, the elected body, should be beyond reproach and be operating at an elevated level."

Peskin questioned why Moyer's 5-month-old letter had surfaced Wednesday and said it was "retaliation" against him by Newsom's administration. Peskin has been the chief critic of City Hall in recent weeks over the mayor's spending and hiring of a slew of new aides as the city faces a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.

Though there is a long-standing rivalry between the two politicians, their exchanges have become particularly heated in recent weeks since Peskin blasted Newsom for dipping into the budget of the cash-strapped Municipal Transportation Agency to pay for the salaries of some of those new aides.

"It appears to be part of a coordinated campaign by the mayor to change the conversation from making sure our transit agency is run appropriately and that the taxpayers funds are spent in accordance of the wishes of the voters," Peskin said.

Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos, who has been a Newsom critic and considered running against him during Newsom's re-election bid last year, said Peskin's alleged behavior falls "well within the boundaries of the system."

"That kind of exchange is not unusual in politics at any level of government, and I find it curious that this is now sort of surfacing when the mayor is getting a lot of criticism for his budgetary expenses," Agnos said.

Stephen Hirschfeld, a San Francisco lawyer who specializes in employment law, said he couldn't comment on whether Peskin violated the City Charter. However, he said, a conventional lawsuit claiming workplace harassment would be tough to prove in court. Judges are often reluctant to weigh in on so-called workplace bullying cases because there are no state or federal laws governing such behavior, he said.

"It's not uncommon to hear stories about all kinds of pressure being placed in the public sector between elected officials and administrators over things the elected official wants them to do or not do," Hirschfeld said. "Unless you're talking about a dispute that stems from some kind of illegal activity, or is a retaliation for some kind of whistle-blowing, it is extremely unlikely that a court is going to get involved."

Excerpts from port director's letter

"He stated unequivocally that he intended to cut (port special projects manager) Brad Benson's position from the Port's budget and to 'screw' with the Port budget. He was very clear that he intended to retaliate against individual members of the Port."

"On Wednesday, August 22, 2007, Supervisor Peskin called my home telephone number at approximately 8:45 p.m. I was putting my daughter to bed but interrupted the process to answer the phone. I was not expecting his call and was caught by surprise.

"In my estimation, the Supervisor had been drinking because his words were not clear. I never did understand what the purpose of his call was. I asked him if it were true that he had threatened to eliminate Brad Benson's position. He acknowledged that it was and remarked that unfortunately my position is protected by the Charter. Within minutes, the Supervisor began yelling at me. He then stated that he didn't have time for this and would be hanging up, which he did abruptly."

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